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District officials cite 38.7% K–3 'at risk' literacy rate and outline curriculum and intervention steps
Summary
Southern Door administrators presented Act 20 early-literacy results showing 38.7% of K–3 students scored in the 'at risk' range and described steps — including year-two UFLI rollout, classroom language and sound walls, biweekly data collaboration and targeted interventions — to address gaps.
District curriculum support specialist Dylan Zaleski and district reading specialist Missy Bosley presented the board with early literacy results and a district response plan under Wisconsin’s Act 20 reporting.
Zaleski said the winter/midyear screener results showed 38.7% of students in grades 4K–3 scored in the "at risk" range (below the 25th percentile) for the 2024–25 testing window, a figure Zaleski said is higher than the state average cited in the packet. Bosley and Zaleski emphasized that the district is treating the data as a baseline and using it to drive instructional changes rather than to label students.
Administrators described specific actions already underway: year-two implementation of the University of Florida Literacy Institute (UFLI) curriculum across elementary grade levels; visible classroom supports such as language walls and sound walls intended to help students map sounds to print; and new biweekly grade‑level data-collaboration meetings in which teachers plan targeted whole-group and small-group instruction based on assessment results. Zaleski said the district will add a spring data table to the packet to make fall–winter–spring comparisons easier for the board.
Board members asked for clarifications about why some grades showed increases in the percentage identified as at risk from fall to winter. Zaleski and Bosley explained that changes in norms and subtest performance (particularly on nonsense-word fluency) contributed to midyear score shifts and described instructional adjustments to address those subtests.
Administrators also linked some proposed staffing items in the referendum's "pillar 3" — increased intervention positions and right-sizing special-education technical supports — to addressing gaps surfaced by the Act 20 data.
Next steps: district staff said they will provide additional documentation requested from the DPI, include spring assessment data for clearer trend comparison, and continue the planned instructional changes.
